Chapter 15 Injuries (2)
Fortunately, after spitting out a mouthful of blood, Li Xiaoxiao felt that the oppressive feeling had subsided a lot, and she was able to breathe again.
She took a few breaths and was about to get out of bed to turn on the light and pour herself a glass of water when she heard her mother knocking on the door: "Xiaoxiao, how are you?"
It turned out that Mao's mother had just lain down and hadn't fallen asleep when she suddenly heard the sound of vomiting next door. She immediately grabbed an oil lamp and went to find her.
Seeing that Li Xiaoxiao did not answer, she pushed hard, and the door was opened in an instant. She could see clearly Li Xiaoxiao leaning against the headboard with blood on her lips.
Mao's mother was shocked: "Xiaoxiao, why are you vomiting blood?"
The light shone on the ground, revealing a dark pool of blood.
Mother Mao was shocked: "Why is the blood black?" She immediately thought of the bowl of medicine that Li Xiaoxiao drank before going to bed. Could it be that the doctor from Huichuntang poisoned her?
Li Xiaoxiao checked her physical condition and felt much better. She got out of bed, poured herself a glass of water, rinsed her mouth, and carefully examined herself. She said happily, "Aunt Mao, I feel much better now."
Just as Madam Mao was about to report to her mother and have someone find a doctor for her that very night, she was stunned when she heard what she said: "What?"
Li smiled and said, "Didn't I feel a dull ache in my chest before? I feel much better now."
Mao's mother asked in confusion, "Could it be that you vomited up the blood that was stuck in your chest? Is there anything else that's bothering you?"
Li Xiaoxiao clenched her fist tightly. This time, it took her a while to feel the dull pain. She exclaimed in surprise, "Aunt Mao, I feel much better!"
Mother Mao looked at her with some skepticism, and after thinking for a moment, she was still worried: "Tomorrow afternoon, I'll go with you to Huichuntang to see Doctor Xie and find out what happened." Vomiting blood is no small matter. If it's not handled properly, it can become an old ailment that will last a lifetime. Li Xiaoxiao is only fifteen years old this year, and she has a long life ahead of her.
The next day after lunch, Mama Mao told Granny Qi that she would personally take Li Xiaoxiao out for a follow-up appointment.
Because Li Xiaoxiao saved Liu Zhi, Granny Qi already had a high opinion of Li Xiaoxiao. When she heard from Mama Mao that Li Xiaoxiao had vomited blood yesterday, she hurriedly said, "Then we must find Doctor Xie to treat her properly as soon as possible. We can't be careless."
Mao's mother took Li Xiaoxiao out and found Doctor Xie.
Mao's mother sat down in front of Doctor Xie with an air of authority, opened the medicine he had prescribed for Li Xiaoxiao yesterday and placed it in front of Doctor Xie: "Doctor Xie, my Xiaoxiao took the medicine you prescribed for her yesterday, and she vomited blood in less than an hour. Did you prescribe the wrong medicine for her?"
Doctor Xie's expression changed drastically. He immediately reached out to take Li Xiaoxiao's pulse. After taking it, a look of surprise flashed in his eyes: "How much blood did you vomit yesterday?"
Li smiled and said, "I just spat it out."
Mao's mother interjected, "But the blood was all black, it looked really scary."
Doctor Xie breathed a sigh of relief: "You've coughed up some of the blood clots that were blocking your chest. Your pulse has improved slightly compared to yesterday, so it seems that the medicine you took yesterday was somewhat effective."
Madam Mao was skeptical: "Doctor, I'm a cook and I can make medicinal cuisine. Almost all the herbs in your prescription are mild and nourishing; I don't see any herbs that can treat injuries."
Doctor Xie stroked his beard: "It's precisely because her injury was so severe that it's not advisable to use strong medicine to remove it all at once. By using gentle remedies to keep her in place and slowly remove the blood stasis in her chest, she hasn't fallen ill all at once..."
He recounted in detail to Madam Mao the events of yesterday when he took Li Xiaoxiao's pulse: "After the young lady left, the shopkeeper and I discussed it for a long time. We both felt that her condition was very serious, so why were there no symptoms? But there is no limit to medicine; the same disease can manifest in vastly different ways in different people. In the end, we could only attribute it to the young lady's special constitution. What would be a very serious disease for others was merely latent in her and had not yet manifested. Therefore, we dared not use strong medicine. If we suddenly induced a severe reaction, it would have the opposite effect, and we might even have endangered her life. So we continued to use mild medicine to slowly revive her, nourish her constitution, and once the blood stasis was cleared up, her body would naturally recover."
Only then did Mao's mother believe that Li Xiaoxiao was really very ill, but even Dr. Xie, who had been a doctor for decades, thought that her constitution was special and rare, so Mao's mother had even less reason to have seen it before.
She clicked her tongue in admiration: "You're a lucky girl. You do heavy work in the kitchen every day and you don't seem to be feeling unwell at all. If Doctor Xie and the shopkeeper hadn't both been convinced that you were injured, I would never have believed it."
Li chuckled twice.
Mother Mao put the medicine away and asked Doctor Xie, "By the way, Doctor, since she's so seriously ill, will it affect her ability to do heavy work?"
Dr. Xie frowned again and muttered, "No symptoms are one thing, but to be able to do heavy work?"
Mother Mao said, "Yes, she carries two large vats of water every day and chops firewood every two or three days. It's all heavy work."
Dr. Xie was at a loss for words, and could only marvel at Li Xiaoxiao's tenacious vitality: "If she doesn't feel any discomfort, it's fine to leave her as she is..."
It's reasonable for Madam Mao to ask such a question. After all, Li Xiaoxiao was found to have a serious illness as soon as she entered the mansion, and the master and madam dismissed her on a whim because they didn't like her. After spending more than ten days with her, Madam Mao was quite satisfied with her.
After all, a capable assistant is hard to find. As long as her illness doesn't affect her job, she decided to help Li Xiaoxiao conceal her condition.
On the way back, she carefully instructed Li Xiaoxiao: "Don't reveal the truth to others. Just say you'll take it slow and heal, okay?"
Li Xiaoxiao nodded vigorously: "Yes! I understand."
After returning home, Granny Qi indeed asked Mama Mao about Li Xiaoxiao's condition. Mama Mao spoke up for her, saying, "The doctor said she was too weak and needed some mild tonics to slowly nourish her. She should drink one dose of medicine every day, which shouldn't affect her work."
Granny Qi was relieved and turned to give Mama Mao a box: "This is a small ginseng root I gave her. Let her steep it in water and drink it." This ginseng root was also to thank her for saving Liuzhi's life. Granny Qi was not an ungrateful person.
Mama Mao thanked Granny Qi on behalf of Li Xiaoxiao and returned the ginseng to Li Xiaoxiao. When Li Xiaoxiao opened it, she found a ginseng root the size of a chopstick.
She had never seen ginseng before and asked Mother Mao, "What is this?"
Mother Mao smiled and said, "This is ginseng. I'll slice it for you. Soak it in warm water and drink it, including the dregs. It's very nourishing."
Such a small thing, so highly nutritious?
Li Xiaoxiao was puzzled.
Mother Mao said, "Don't underestimate this ginseng; it's worth at least four or five taels of silver."
Li Xiaoxiao was taken aback: "So expensive!"
Mother Mao said, "Of course, this size is acceptable. If it were as thick as a thumb, it would cost over a hundred taels."
Li Xiaoxiao asked, "Why did Granny Qi give me such an expensive ginseng?"
Madam Mao said, "It's all because you saved Liuzhi's life. Her son, daughter-in-law, and grandson aren't around, only her granddaughter is with her. Granny Qi dotes on her more than her grandson, how could she not be worried about Liuzhi's life? To be honest, if you hadn't snatched her back yesterday, Granny Qi would have been heartbroken." If she had really been kidnapped, Granny Qi would never have been able to find Liuzhi again in this lifetime.
Madam Mao said, "Just take it. Remember how kind Granny Qi was. If you have anything good, bring her some too. She's the head of the inner courtyard. If she has a good impression of you, your life will be easier..."
At this point, she sighed again. In fact, these were all survival strategies of wealthy families. If they were still in the mansion in the capital, these methods would naturally be useful. But since the master and mistress had been demoted to this place, and their household was small, the things she taught Li Xiaoxiao were probably no longer useful.
Li Xiaoxiao gradually adapted to her current life. Considering her injury, Mao Mama gave her significantly less work. Every morning, she would fill two large vats with water and light the fires on the two stoves. Mao Mama would then let her go back to her room to rest. If anyone asked, she would say that she had gone back to her room to do needlework.
To be honest, Li Xiaoxiao couldn't even thread a needle properly and had no needlework skills at all.
She had never done such delicate work before.
She drank the medicine prescribed by Doctor Xie every day, and she also ate the ginseng that Granny Qi gave her. The feeling of tightness in her chest gradually lessened until it disappeared after seven days.
Mao's mother happily told her that the medicine was effective and that her lips had become much rosier.
But Li Xiaoxiao knew that this was all just a facade.
Her health is improving, but at the cost of her superpowers.
Her injuries were healed not so much by the Chinese herbal medicine, but by the burning of her supernatural powers.
Because she couldn't open the necklace around her neck.
To outsiders, it was just an ordinary silver chain, but it held her biggest secret.
As the dull pain disappeared, she could no longer sense the presence of her superpowers.
She knew that time tunnels weren't easy to traverse. It was already a miracle that her body hadn't been pulverized in the turbulence; it was only natural that she was left with a body full of injuries.
However, the people in this world have too low attack power. Perhaps the rules of Heaven do not allow her to have too advanced power, so it was taken back.
In any case, she's gone, so be it. Li Xiaoxiao accepts it well. Even if she only has the strength of her body left, three or five people still can't get close to her.
That's enough for her to protect herself.
After taking her medicine, she went to Huichuntang for a follow-up visit, which astonished Doctor Xie and the shopkeeper. They repeatedly asked her if she had taken any miraculous medicine. When they learned that she had eaten a ginseng root, their eyes changed.
Doctor Xie even wanted to see what the ginseng root looked like and why it could cure her in just seven days.
Of course, there was no ginseng left, not even a trace of its beard hair. She ate it all. Moreover, she knew that the ginseng and those tonics only played an auxiliary role. The real reason was that their medicinal properties activated the residual supernatural power in her body, accelerating the healing speed of her supernatural power.
At this moment, she was lying leisurely on a forked tree by the roadside on the outskirts of the county, with her hands behind her head and a blade of grass in her mouth. Under the tree, an old cow was leisurely grazing.
She now has an extra job: herding cattle.
She could have easily bought hay from the mountain folk who delivered firewood; it was very cheap, ten coins could buy five days' worth of hay for the old ox. But she didn't want to stay in the backyard of the county government office; she wanted to come out and see the world.
Herding cattle is a job that suits her very well.
The kitchen work is only busy in the morning and evening. After she finishes, she can lead her cow out to graze and relax.
During her time away, she smelled the fragrance of flowers, the freshness of grass, felt the scent of the wind, and watched the cows graze happily. She even lowered her head and imitated them, taking a bite of the emerald green grass, savoring its raw taste, and then spitting it out.
She was delighted; she loved this unmutated world.
It would be great if I could eat more meat.
She was lost in her reverie when she suddenly heard the clatter of hooves coming from the official road. Curious, she looked up and saw a carriage bearing the mark of Biyang County appear before her.
Magistrate Meng, who had been missing for over ten days, has finally returned.
A note from the author:
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